Scientific men are often accused of being too optimistic, of
dreaming-dreams which are never likely to be realised. Some listeners,
no doubt, characterised as of this nature Prof. Ayrton's memorable
statement made in 1897 (when speaking of telephony):"There
is no doubt the day will come maybe when you and I are forgotten when
copper wires, guttapercha coverings, and iron sheathings will be
relegated to the museum of antiquities."" ... In that day when a man
wants to telegraph to a friend he knows not where, he will call in an
electromagnetic voice which shall be heard loud by him who has the
electro-magnetic ear, but will be silent to everyone else. He will call
'Where are you?' and the reply will come, 'I am at the bottom of a
coalmine,' 'I am crossing the Andes,' 'I am in the middle of the
Pacific,' or perhaps no reply will come, and he may conclude his friend
is dead."

Indeed...

This one embodies all the hubris of empire!

"There is no doubt that many oriental and even some savage peoples are
able to convey information for considerable distances, in some unknown
way, with astonishing rapidity. Many stories regarding this are related
by travellers and others. One is to the effect our officers in
Afghanistan were greatly puzzled as to how the intended military
movements of the British could be so clearly known to the enemy in
distant places so shortly after they were determined upon.Not the
swiftest horses in the British lines could have covered half the
distance in the given time, and a strict watch failed to detect any
heliographic or beacon-light signals. The offer of bribes was
ineffective, money could not purchase the secret, nor could the fear of
death extort it, it remains in the possession of the natives till this
day.

It is said that on the day on which that good man General
Gordon was murdered in Khartoum the event was known in the bazaars of
Cairo. This may not be true, for his murderers had probably few
sympathisers in Cairo ; but, if true, it is a mystery how the news
travelled so quickly, seeing that there was then no railway and no
telegraph to Khartoum, and even had there been a railway, a train
running at 60 miles an hour would have taken some- thing like 16 hours
to accomplish the journey.

It may be that the sensitive
oriental nervous organisation is susceptible to etheric influences
which we cannot detect, and that in this way two similarly endowed
persons are affected so as to be able to emit and receive impressions
more or less tangible.

That this power of rapid communication is
shared to some extent by the Kaffirs is shown by a recent writer (Mr. D.
Blackburn on "Kaffir Telegraphy" in the Spectator], and the Matabele
have often astonished our officers in the same way. These
stories have really little interest for Us to-day, except to excite
wonder and speculation, since modern science has furnished us with surer
and swifter, if more expensive, methods. Messages have been
transmitted without the intervention of a metallic conductor for a
distance of over 2,500 miles, and greater wonders are said to be in
store for us."